Save the Drinkers!

Popularity Contest!

2008-07-21T16:28:00.000-07:00

This is what those of us in the business and marketing world call "Shameless Self Promotion"!

Please click on the banner below and vote thoughtlessly for Red Feather or Bittercreek in every category you can possible imagine. (One of my favorite awards to win would be "Best Place To Get Wet.") If you work for a different bar/restaurant/den of sin in town, please consider this your reminder to vote for your own people... depending on how well you think they tend bar or make dinner or scare up smack.

Happy ballot stuffing! Please tell your friends!

Love the Chick, Hate the Clothes:

2008-07-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

That's LeNell Smothers.

She's a wild girl with a big ol' mouth for drinkin'. And... I can't resist the urge to tell everyone that I saw her wearing a black leather fanny pack last night, (ahhhh!), nor to say that although I think she is one hot chick with a great talent for booze, I hate her clothes. And I think she might be a slut. I'm just saying! I love sluts! I don't even know her yet I'm trashing her clothes, which is why I'm posting here and not on Tales Blog. Because it would be just like a bratty blogger to tell everyone that she can suck a golf ball through ten feet of garden hose, but not actually introduce myself to her, ever. LeNell, if you're reading this, I just want to say that I love trash. And you're hot. You. Are. Hot. Trash.

LeNell and Gary Regan hosted what was barely an educational experience yesterday: The Essential Guide to American Whiskey. And although it was not educational in the least, is was a fuckload of fun. ("Fuckload" is a technical tasting term I learned in yesterday's session.) Everybody in attendance expected nothing but this.

Important note: I sat next to Sammy from Milk & Honey who has 1,000,000 friends and whom everyone loves, and I was jealous because nobody knew me and I didn't get any attention from LeNell the Slut or Gary the Crackhead. But Sammy gave me some Green Chartreuse, which I'm pretty sure is his way of saying that he thinks about me lots.

I was actually quite pleased to just drink a bunch of whiskey and listen to LeNell and Gary burp out inside-jokes about Gary's wife on the mic. I didn't have the brain power to actually learn anything since getting out of bed yesterday morning, (after consuming what I am sure will be a life-truncating amount of rye whiskey the night before,) was a lot like being ripped out from the middle of a collapsed tool shed. Not so much a headache or a hangover, but like... a hangoverache. My hangover had a headache. I'm still wearing sunglasses.

This is what you folks at home should consider a casual update.

Now, here's me getting busted rifling through Shana's purse. Oh, and pulling off a bottle of Beam. Wooo!

Absinthe fanatics are kind of goth, only green instead of black.

2008-07-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

After having foot to ground in New Orleans for around 18 hours, I'd already had a serious case of heartburn, a hangover, regret that I don't live in a larger city, and a new set of neat people to stalk, (you know who you are...,) before I found time to post. I also learned that one must have a panama in their collection to be a cocktail writer traveling to New Orleans...

I do not... and nor will I ever... own a panama hat.

Since I'm a research-free writer at the moment, and I don't know a ton about the subject already, I can't go into great depth about my visit to the Preview Opening of the Absinthe Museum of America and the simultaneous consumption of several glasses of that funny stuff. But I can tell you that I was surprised about the complex differences between Lucid, Marteau, and La Fee absinthes. Lucid has a rich, earthy flavor that I prefer to the others, while the La Fee has a bright, full-bodied sweetness that I think has more universal appeal to our culture's less-than-1700s appreciation of absinthe. These differences are probably the result of the different styles and philosophies associated with each spirit-maker, but you'll have to do some research to find out. (I don't feel like it.)

I basically had to threaten a pipe bombing at the ISLD to get Lucid into Idaho, and I've since grown to love the stuff. I was equally loving the vast collection of pastis and absinthe brands and accessories at today's preview... and these chicks:

Hold on to your liver!

2008-07-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

After posting my basic tips for newcomers on the Tales Blog last week, I realized that I'm trying to fit in a lot during this year's reunion. Combine the number of sessions I'm attending with the fact that I actually have to write/work during this thing, and you've got a busy little Kevin on your hands... especially considering that I'm neither a serious blogger nor writer nor person. What's happening here is grown-up behavior. Eek.

To give everyone an idea of what I'm not going to miss, and to get myself organized in the first place, I'm posting the schedule for the whole Save the Drinkers and Red Feather cast and crew. Here's what we/I be doing at Tales this year, extra delinquent galavanting implied:

Wednesday, July 16th

2:00 p.m. Toast to Tales of the Cocktail
4:30 p.m. Cocktail Bloggers Reception
Before 6 p.m. Sneak into Green Hour
Before 7 p.m. Sneak into Warhol Party

Thursday, July 17th

10:30 a.m. How to Taste
12:30 p.m. Juniperlooza or Molecular Mixology
2:30 p.m. Cognac and Armagnac or Nano-Distilling
4:30 p.m. Latino Libations or British Invasion!
8:00 p.m. Commander's Palace, Spirited Dinner

Friday, July 18th

9:00 a.m. I'm not entirely sure how the world looks at this hour, but I'll be at the Media Breakfast at Brennan's
10:30 a.m. Bitters (I'm wondering if Toby will be wearing Converse.)
12:30 p.m. The Whiskeys You've Never Tasted
2:30 p.m. The Three Amigos
4:30 p.m. Sensory Perception

Saturday, July 19th

10:30 a.m. Regional Trends or Morning Glory Cocktails
12:30 p.m. Green Seasonal Bar
4:30 p.m. Making Your Own Ingredients
Midnight Audrey and Simon's Breakfast

Sunday, July 20th

10:30 a.m. Bartending Techniques
12:30 p.m. Famous New Orleans Drinks

Catching all of this is, of course, baring extreme mental disability related to late nights in the Sonnema and Faulkner Suites. I'm also going to miss the ribbon cutting at the American Cocktail Museum since I'll be leaving on Sunday. At any rate, it's going to be a great week. See you all on Wednesday!

MxMo August: Local Flavor

2008-07-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yoo hoo... Over here! Hi. I'm Kevin: Busy social degenerate who happens to be hosting MxMo August. Don't look so surprised. I'm functioning, even if barely... Functioning and completely stoked about the August 11th roundup on Local Flavor. In short, the idea is to post one of two types of drinks:

Option 1: Gather ingredients that are representative of the culture/geography/tackiness of your respective cities and make a drink with a truly place-based style. For example, huckleberries are native to the geographical area where I live, as are elderflowers, potatoes, and extremely conservative, closet-case politicians. (I'm just saying!)

Option 2: Dig up an old drink that came from your city and revive it! If you can find the original bar, that would be even more interesting.

Those of you that know me, (so, like... none of you,) probably aren't surprised that I chose local-something as a topic for my turn to host. Locality is an interest of mine not only for environmental reasons, but also because of my passion for developing a culinary style that is unique and culturally sensible for each place. We live in a nation obsessed with globalization and it's killing our planet and, just as tragically, our style! I feel the same way about food globalization as I feel about Tommy Bahama... and take my word, it is a violent emotion.

This topic should dovetail nicely with the July MxMo following Tales, which is a similar idea but specific to New Orleans. New Orleans is rich is culinary history and should provide a good excercise for returning to your own city to put together something truly place-based.

Drop a link to your post as a comment below or email me at kevin (at) savethedrinkers (.) com by midnight on August 11th to be included in the roundup. Until then, have fun with the July MxMo... and for those of you gracing New Orleans next week, I'll see you (maybe in double/blurred vision) at the Carousel Bar!

Martini Mix-off 2008

2008-06-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

So many bizarre things happened on Friday night that by the time I walked into Red Feather after the Martini Mixoff awards party, I wasn't at all surprised to see no less than two sets of my co-workers' breasts standing at attention, t-shirts flying through the air in inebriated abandon; a sight almost completely wasted on me as I searched for a bathrobe or a fire extinguisher or anything to cover what would undoubtedly be talked about for months to come. "Remember that time when the Red Feather staff went completely crazy and staged an orgy in the restaurant after Martini Mixoff?!"

Jonny and Martinez

I wish I could say that such amorous energy was brought about as congratulations for the success of the Penicillin, but I'm sure it's actually the other way around. There was something in the air, or the liquor, or the bong water... and when Karen Ellis announced that the Penicillin had won the first place award I was truly convinced that I had fallen down the rabbit hole... or off my high heels. The Penicillin was supposed to be the loser of the whole damn thing!! And it won! First place!

The Penicillin took first in Savory, the Martinez took second in Classic, and the Lovelocker took third in Dessert. We also won the food award thanks to the onion ring stylings of one Chef Andrew Mayer, and thanks doubly to the chocolate and pink peppercorn ice cream made by the beautiful Pastry Chef Jami Gott. A fine finish to a very long month if I do say so myself, and a surprising one at that. A bourbon cocktail wins first place in a Boise cocktail competition... incredible.

Mark Allen, Martinez, Sean Early, Unidentified Pretty Person.

Other winners were Pat Carden with something that took ten minutes to dilute at rest, I think protecting his stirring wrist from what could have been carpal tunnel years ago. Also worth mentioning is Michael Bowers' second-place-winning dessert drink, the Morro de Saudade. It's an interesting mix of scotch, strawberry, chocolate, and balsamic vinegar that I've decided is a misguided bourbon cocktail, but still quite enjoyable as long as you're adventurous. I was very disappointed to see that Chandler's play on the Moscow Mule, the Hef-tini didn't make the finals in the Savory category. It's a very simple beer, vodka, and orange bitters cocktail that I found surprisingly delicious. The elegant and f-ing flawless Jen Koble of Pair took first in Dessert with her rich and spicy chocolate martini, the Fiery Francesca. Other winners were Sarah Proctor of Tablerock and Sean Early of Bardenay, who was the most deserving winner of the People's Choice award since he's the nicest and cutest person in the world. The photos below were taken with my iPhone camera which sucks. For better photos, check out Dave Day at Boisee.

Bingo Barns and his Ladyfriend, whose name I forget, and the Penicillin. Bingo in the closest thing Boise has to a Ted Haigh.

The darling Sarah Proctor.

Mark Allen, dreamboat, making the Penicillin.

Tori Spurlock and the Lovelocker.

Martini Mixoff Finals

2008-05-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

It's funny how I always forget the insanity that comes upon Downtown Boise the minute the sun comes out. And amid the patio dining which nearly doubles our business, there's the summer events. One such event, the May Martini Mixoff, brings tongues of thirsty martini drinkers downtown to watch judges determine who makes the best drinks, and to drink and judge for themselves.

Bittercreek competed two weeks ago, and Red Feather competed last week. At the end of it all, we made three drinks into the finals collectively; the Martinez at Bittercreek, and the Lovelocker and Penicillin at Red Feather.

These are three drinks I've posted on consecutively in the last month or two, and you can imagine my surprise when the third of which, the Penicillin, actually made it into the finals. (?!?) Dare I say that we have some whiskey drinkers in our panel of judges?!? I've been wearing this pompus badge noting myself as the victim of an adventurous palate; I've assumed everyone would hate it, and I've loved being such a bitch about it. I suppose this is what I get.

The charming and historically minded Bingo Barns seemed the most fond of the Penicillin, which I expected, but I didn't think it would be enough to put in the top three.

Only two bars were knocked out of the competition throughout the month of May, leaving a hefty seven competitors for the final judging to be held this Wednesday, May 28th, at Gusto Jazz Bar on Main Street between Capitol and 6th. The finalists are Pair, Chandler's, Bardenay, Tablerock, Modern Hotel, Bittercreek, and Red Feather.

Here's the Red Rye Bread at BitterCreek. This drink is a loser, but I love this photo! Aqvavit and tomato juice with a little spice. This defines savory!

The Lovelocker and a snifter of Cardamom Cordial. In an effort to turn the tables on their asses, Mark and I made a scorecard for each judge. Our egos are fragile! Forgive us!

Something about her expression just says "not happy." Poker face? Let's hope so.
Here's me making a Bourgeois Pig, which I understand was damn close at having a chance to compete against the slow-as-hell martini over at Chandler's. (Sorry Pat, couldn't resist.)

The photos in the body of this post were provided by Addis Manly, general dreamboat and the legs and eyes of the Martini Mixoff... The three photos below the post are the work of the generous David Day. For more great photos of Martini Mixoff and of general happenings in Boise, check out his blog, Boisee.com.

MxMo Rum: The Scarlet Ibis & Death

2008-05-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

I've been gearing up for this Mixology Monday post since I first tasted (the better part of a bottle,) and then smuggled home from New York last week, The Scarlet Ibis blended rum of Trinidad. The first thoughtful sip is pictured at right. The latter sips were not so carefully tasted, as I recall.

The Scarlet Ibis is subtle but hot, releasing light floral and caramel notes throughout the finish. It makes a great cocktail rum because of its versatile flavor and generous proof. It's imported by Eric Seed, (all-around great guy and my bar's personal portal between Boise and the outside world of fine spirits,) especially for Death & Co., my favorite dimly lit watering hole with heavy wooden doors in New York's East Village.

That being said, I'm not the most rum-oriented cocktail guy (I know, I know... sacrilege!) It's not that I don't like rum and its application in drinks, but is probably best explained by my general aversion to tiki culture, (just hang me already,) and the fact that the company I work for used to own a tiki bar, (in, cough, IDAHO, USA!) and I'm a little scarred from the labor of digging up old rum drinks only to sell margaritas and vodka tonics to college students with bad manners. After writing a few drink menus that nobody understood, and training a few staffs that simply did not care, we took a bow to the Idaho context, and tapped out of the tiki game all together. Although all rum is not tiki, I have a little PTSD related to this experience. And when I realized I was loosing my MxMo cherry to a rum post, I swear I heard Victor Burgeon himself snicker at me from the great Trader's in the sky, amused by the irony, watching me flounder.

The Scarlet Ibis is a delicately sophisticated rum. It is, in my mind, beautiful respite from the tacky tiki nightmare that surrounds a culture, (and a style of dress for that matter,) that I simply do not understand. The rum is like everything I love about D&C; the classy and demure dark humor of the place, its beautifully gothic and morgue-like sensibility, the subtle air of something old. I made the punch below in a bowl that is so drastically ugly when set against the soft, alabaster punch pots I remember at Death that I refused to photograph it. It's melodramatic, I know, but that's how I feel about Death & Co...

Since anybody who's anybody has already had The Scarlet Ibis and the subsequent hangover, I decided to enlist the help of David Kaplan, co-owner of the nightlife establishment, and he directed me to Philip Ward who, from what I understand, is basically to Death & Co. what Mickey Mouse was to all those brooms in Fantasia.

The Gustad Noble Punch
In large pitcher disolve 12 demurara sugar cubes in 3 oz soda (Muddling is usually neccesary,) Stir in:
3 oz Lemon
1.5 oz Pimento Dram
6 oz Scarlet Ibis
4.5 oz fresh pressed Fuji apple juice
6 dash Peychaud's Bitters
Add ice and stir until chilled Pour into punch bowl over large piece of ice
Add 4.5 oz club soda
Garnish with slices of apple

Get Drunk!

Barring a few minor modifications, (my own dram and tart, granny smith apples,) I made this recipe for a group of friends in celebration of, well... The new Mixology Monday logo?... and am now feeling lucky that I wrote the majority of this post beforehand. Since the supply of Ibis is so effing limited, I would suggest dropping by D&C and ordering a bowl of this tart, spicy punch from Philip or whomever happens to be issuing libations at the time. On David's recommendation, I've also tried it in a Mai Tai. If you can rip yourself from the grip of Appleton's to try a Trinidadian variation, it's lovely. And, if you can get your hands on your own bottle of Ibis, do it before it's gone...

The Cure...

2008-05-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I don't need to tell any of who live in Boise about our recent media event, but for the sake of any out-of-state readers, I'll give you a little background on the Penicillin...

Last Winter, a server of ours went to Nicaragua to surf and unwind for three months. After having returned and worked for three weeks, she fell terribly ill. Two days later, Central District Health called and informed me that she had hep A. To make a long story-- which I am still living-- very short, the media got a hold of it and made news of a fluke. The news media in Idaho can be likened to a flatulent old dog dressed in drag; bored and stinky with bad hair and makeup. Sooooo, with morale at an all-time low, the Penicillin is helping us have a some fun with our bad press. Its medicinal flavor is sure to scare the hysteria from any hypochondriac-- of which, we have learned, there are many in our little city. We're entering the Penicillin in the May Martini Mixoff, and its less-than-universal flavor profile leads me to believe it may win the competition the day that I'm seen wearing a pair of beige dockers... which, of course, is never.

Penicillin
1/4 oz Fernet Branca
1/4 oz Brown Sugar Cordial*
2 oz Bourbon (We use MM for the competition)
1 dash of Angostura Bitters
Stir gently and garnish with a smacked mint leaf.

*Make a very thick simple syrup out of brown sugar and add 1 ounce of Lemon Hart 151 for every cup of sugar used.

The Penicillin is bitter and aromatic with an almost syrupy finish. Placing the mint leaf on your palm and giving it a good smack before placing it on the drink's surface creates an herbal aroma that is surreal and compliments the flavor of the Fernet quite well. The smacked mint leaf is a favorite garnish of ours-- thanks, Audrey.

The flavor of bourbon breaks down rather quickly when poured over ice and stirred. If you're using room temperature bourbon, don't go nuts with the stirring. You want this drink to be strong and hot so you can skip the vaccination. If you have big ice, stir with that. It will chill the drink without watering it down too much.

Oh, and for those of you wondering... there has not been a single case of hep associated with Red Feather. It's amazing what a small town will do on a slow news day...

May Martini Mixoff

2008-04-22T14:32:00.001-07:00

Boise's 5th Annual May Martini Mixoff is soon underway. For those of you living out of the area, the Mixoff is a cocktail competition sponsored by Future Brands of Idaho. Bartenders from the downtown area invent drinks in specified categories using sponsor products, and present their drinks to a panel of judges 3 bars at a time, every Thursday in May. There's a final party to announce the winners around the first weekend in June.

The organizers and a few chirping advisers have broken the competition up into three categories this year: Savory, Dessert, and Classic Martini. There's some flexibility with the Classic category as vodka is allowed to compete (puhtooey) and the use of vermouth is optional, as it seems. It should also be noted that this is a promotional, sponsor-oriented event. While I tend to make it way more culinary and serious than it is, the point is to have fun and raise money for a charity in honor of our late downtown friend, Lisa Villano.

Here's how I define each category, and how Red Feather and Bittercreek bartenders are being instructed to compete:

Savory
If you might enhance the flavor of a drink with salt and pepper, it's probably savory. Drinks in this category should have strong herbal, spice, or salty tones. The use of cream, coffee, chocolate, nut, or fruit cordials or liqueurs is discouraged. Simple syrup should be limited to use in fresh citrus juice or be infused with herb or botanical extract. The finish should range from menthol (hot not sweet), grassy, spicey, aromatic, bitter or umami.

Dessert
This drink should contain cream, egg, chocolate, sweet spice, nut or coffee cordial, vanilla, or caramel or caramelized fruit syrup. It should be considered post-prandial in flavor and not digestif, although both are usually considered appropriate for dessert. The finish should be sugary, milky, or syrupy.

Classic
For our bars in this competition, the Classic guidelines are quite simple. Gin and aperitif wine in a ratio of no less than 1 part aperitif wine to 6 parts gin. Bitters are optional.

Oddly enough, the most commonly asked question seems to be Where does the Cosmo fit? or Where does the Lemon Drop fit?... Repuesta? They fit in a different competition. The criteria is wonderfully designed to eliminate drinks of such an obvious and plaaaaaayed model. (It's a good model, just played-out as all hell.)

I hope we see some new trends this year, like the use of housemade cordials and garnish, and local, seasonally appropriate ingredients. As we develop our drinks for Red Feather and Bittercreek, I'll post the recipes here. Until then, pick up tickets for Martini Mixoff 2008 at the:

Kick-Off Party on April 29th at 5:30 pm in the Mode Building, 8th Street at Idaho, Downtown.

Tickets are $50 and will buy you one cocktail at each of the nine participating bars (expiring June 30th,) a drink at the Kick-Off Party, and entry to the final party in June and a drink there as well. Ticket-holders are encouraged to have a liver examination sometime in July. You may also purchase tickets at all of the competing bars starting this Friday, April 25th.

50 miles

2008-04-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

Has anyone every heard that eating local honey helps control seasonal allergies? This is a huuuuuge debate in my office lately, since I think it's hogwash, but I'm interested to know about the scientific backing, if there's actually any out there...

The point, though, is not seasonal allergies. Since mine are terrible this time of the year, the subject was at the front of my head... like, literally... when I told a bar patron last month that her cocktail, (made with vodka, rose cordial, sour apple juice, and honey,) was composed of ingredients sourced within a 50-mile radius. After I shot down her local honey shtick, we had a talk about locality that went basically like this:

"If you guys are all into fancy drinks, why don't you guys have raspberries or strawberries or anything? I like berries."

"Well, they're not quite in season yet. Not it this part of the West, anyway."

"You can get them at Win-Co."

"I know."

(awkward silence, which I really enjoy sometimes.)

"So you don't have anything on the menu that you can't get from like the Co-Op or something?"

"The goal is to feature things on the menu from our area that are in season because we're trying to develop a true Idaho-style of cocktail making, and because it's better for our city's economy."

Barring limitations with local liquor and citrus fruit, it is completely possible in Boise to work with ingredients that are mostly local. What happens when we do this is very multifaceted. We create a style of cuisine and drink that is truly regional, and we save fuel and money by working with purveyors that are close. Building relationships in a direct-source system is easier, too. Most suppliers will even agree to bringing products in reusable containers that can be taken and then refilled, thus reducing waste and saving money and resources.

The idea is not new. Cloverleaf Creamery in Idaho is now delivering milk to restaurants and grocery stores in reusable glass bottles, just like it happened before giant commercial dairies took over most of the cows and land. In feudal France, communities would trade and source all of their food within a day's walk. Everything that the home produced and was used in some way. (As an aside, I've always thought it strange that chefs trained in French techniques in modern-day America will put a pot of sauce on a natural gas burner and let it go for 12 hours as if they were cooking in a kettle over a fire of burning refuse, as in the origins of French cooking.)

As we build local community awareness of food systems through sustainability education, farmer's markets, and grocery co-ops, we should be watching the bar to follow suit. I am obviously not perfect at this; there are still plenty of components in my menus that could be traded out for something closer or omitted based on seasonality altogether... everything is a journey, and in a world obsessed with globalization, the jouney to a local food economy is a long one. Check out Farmer's Markets USA for information about a market in your area and to learn about community-based food systems.

Blogging Tales of the Cocktail

2008-04-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

Tales of the Cocktail is a yearly celebration of drinking and drink-making. It happens in the summer in New Orleans (July 16-20 this year,) and proves to be a great time of networking, learning, oogling, and of course falling off bar stools. Last year, Mark and I even went on a late night scavenger hunt in the registration area of the Hotel Monteleone.... This was naturally the night before I took a tour of New Orleans with a terrible hang over, and actually had to make the tour pull over because I was so green-faced from Absinthe shots. (I will never learn.) If you're into the above-mentioned antics, I'd encourage you to go... unless of course you're a fun-hater.

With Tales 2008 approaching, a bunch of bloggers, including the guy who inspired me to start writing this blog, decided to get together and give the general public the inside scoop. Click the link above to find out what you should check out this year in New Orleans. I was not invited to participate, since I'm off the frickin' radar in the cocktail community, and since I update my content about as frequently as I go to church. My otheredness is not going to stop me from plugging the hell out of it, though.

UPDATE: 4-17
I'm getting involved!

The Martinez

2008-04-15T08:58:00.000-07:00

There's a new Spring drink menu at Red Feather, and among the standard classics in the cannon this season stands the Martinez.

If you haven't tried a Martinez in your drinking career just yet, I suggest you do. It's a sublime, sweet drink that will shake up...er... stir up your ideas about what really makes a good cocktail. Not only is it robust and interesting to drink, but it's history served up. Here's the recipe we're using at Red Feather:

The Martinez
1 1/4 oz. Plymouth Gin
1 3/4 oz. Carpano Antica Formula
2 dashes Fee Brother's Orange Bitters
1 splash Maraschino

On the off chance that any of you are wondering if by "Maraschino" I mean that sticky, vapid red juice from those equally vapid red things in your garnish tray, think again. Maraschino Liquor is distilled directly from the Marasca cherry and takes on a hot, dry flavor. Maraschino also provides the interesting kick in the original daiquiri, but that's a different post.

On the note of ingredients in this drink, is anyone else in Boise using Carpano Antica Formula red vermouth yet? I'm sitting here trying to think of a single cocktail that contains vermouth that doesn't demand the highest possible quality, and I'm telling you that good vermouth is always important. This one happens to be the best I've ever tried, and in this application it is truly surreal.

The Martinez is widely considered the first stab at the gin martini by people who have done the research; the use of sweet vermouth being far more popular at the turn of the century, as well as the orange bitters. We've turned the Martini into something strange and nondescript in the last several years, taking both the vermouth and bitters out of the equation, sometimes completely, and often filling a cocktail glass full with cold vodka. I wish we would have stayed with the Martinez.

I take sick pleasure in subjecting my bar staff to drinks that no one will ever ask for on the off chance that we can develop a following for them. And so we spent about 20 minutes yesterday talking through the Martinez and its history. If you're a regular at Red Feather, don't be surprised next time you sit down if there's a Martinez in front of you before you have the chance to order. Here's what it looks like:

Love locked.

2008-03-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

Introducing the Lovelocker!

We've taken a basic Gin Sour and made it with cardamom cordial in place of sugar. The result is sublime summer love that gets ya feelin' funny fast. Here's the recipe:

Lovelocker
1 1/2 oz. Tanqueray
1 oz. cardamom cordial
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 egg white

The cardamom cordial is also very simple. I recommend making a lot at once as most spiced cordials improve with a little aging. This is the recipe for one 750 ml bottle:

Cardamom Cordial

Add 4 cups of sugar and 4 tablespoons of ground cardamom to 4 cups of boiling water
Stir until sugar is disolved and syrup is golden-brown
Let cool for 20 minutes
Strain through 2 coffee filters and a china cap (or mesh sieve)

For best results, I recommend consuming several of these with a bowl of fresh berries.

South American Vehicles of Drunkenness, Part 2

2008-02-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

I spent the begining of this year living in Buenos Aires, writing a lot of mediocre poetry and drinking the afternoons into nights, contemplating the purpose of my life. Between infrequent swells of inspiration, I found myself browsing through my Lonely Planet, tempted by the images of Brazil... the beaches, the bodies, the architecture... In hindsight, my reasons for never going were really foolish; I spent so much time learning to speak Spanish, (and it was hard enough,) that I was terrified by the thought of having to speak another new language. I returned to the US having never consumed a single caipirinha in Brazil. No sex. No Rio. No Portuguese... what a drag.

Cachaca is the national spirit of Brazil and its playful and unique flavor embodies the spirit of the Brazilian people. While many bartenders refer to cachaca as "a type of rum", this is not the case. If cachaca is rum, then gin is vodka.

Rum is distilled from molasses, the risidual sticky matter left after reducing sugarcane juice. The origin of the sugar cane, the aging process, and the handling of the molasses itself give different types of rums their respectively unique flavors. Rum is made all over the world, and cachaca is only made in Brasil. The distinctively musky flavor of cachaca comes from the fermented sugar cane mash from which it is distilled. The woody notes of more artisanal brands come from the careful aging in barrels made from indigenous Brazilian oak, cherry, balsam, and almond trees. Among the sugar-based Latin American Spirits are also seco, charanda, and aquardiente.

A common lie about cachaca is that Brazilians think it's cheap and junky and meant for the lower classes. Although this rumor is probably rooted largely in the spirit's history, most liquor stores in the US stock huge, commercial, musky dishwater brands that really are junk. The truth is that Brazilians take their liquor very seriously, and drink the good stuff at home while exporting all the crap to us white folk. I use Batuque, pictured at right, not just because of the hot booty bottle, but also because it's a high quality brand that makes a caipirinha fit for the most discriminating, samba-dancing palate.

The subject of sugar is post-worthy in itself, especially when you consider how many cocktails are essentially a spirit, bitters, and some form of sugar. In the US, most commercial sugars are produced from beets and bleached to all hell. Don't be fooled by brown sugar in the US either, it's probably bleachy beety sugar with a little molasses syrup added for color and texture. At Red Feather, we use a natural brown sugar made from unrefined cane and containing risidual molasses of about 5%. I made the decision to use a brown sugar after doing a little research about popular sugars in Brazil. I think my decision is justified as it is probably the closest match in terms of flavor. Here's Mark, the best bartender in Boise, and a caipirinha made with the following recipe:

Caipirinha

Muddle:
1/2 a Lime (key lime if available) into
.5 oz Brown Sugar Simple Syrup until it looks like pond water.
Add:
2 oz. Batuque Cachaca
Roll or shake lightly with ice. Strain over new ice and garnish with lime quarters.

Sour Grapes.

2008-01-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

This post has been a while in the making. I've been dragging my feet for a couple of reasons, mostly related to being too busy and drinking too much because I'm too busy. It's a worthy discussion, though, since the season is changing and I'm asking myself the same damn question I ask every fall when considering how to make our program more LOCAL... What am I going to do about citrus juice?

It's a silly question without context, so let me lay it out for you. We live in what I describe as a less-than-lush part of the country. Although global warming is going to help us out with citrus pretty soon, we don't really have a lot of options for tart components that are local. I have a bad attitude toward the emphasis on citrus juice in cocktail making, but I think it's related to the lack of local availability... it's a sour grapes sort of perspective, for lack of a more appropriate term. Since we are working to create a cocktail style that is very regional and reflects our area, I'm interested in ways to cheat nature out of forcing me to ship a case of lemons from Florida so I can make new drinks with balance.

Enter the Citric Acid & Apple Juice trick.
Although you cannot twist an apple peel, you can produce sour apple (or sour grape) juice with the help of crystallized citric acid. Lemon is a very important flavor, but in a menu period of fall emphasis, why not try sour apple juice instead of lemon? Getting the balance right is key to say the least. The first batch of juice I put together burned my throat and locked my jaw for a few seconds... such is the nature of trial and error. The basic process is outlined below if you'd like to try it. I recommend using a sweeter, softer apple (red delicious would work just fine,) since adding citric acid will create a nice, complex juice. Softer apples also produce juice with more texture.

Heat 1 quart fresh, local apple juice to about 95 degrees. Stir in teaspoonfuls of citric acid, tasting the juice as it dissolves. The more tart the apples, the less acid you need. Cool juice and bottle for storage.

Aroma

2007-10-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to schmooze with Audrey Saunders a few months ago, but because I lack the pelotas, I chickened out. Instead, I just kind of stared her down from across the room, much like you might expect from a crazy blogger type, which I am not.

I mention Audrey because she's one of my big inspirations for much of what I'm doing with aroma these days. They say that smelling is around 80% of tasting, and as bar movements take us in a more culinary direction, the nose will help us determine balance in drinks if we learn to use the products we probably already have in our kitchens and bars with their respective aromas in mind. And while it's tempting to make your cocktail's aromatic components the same as their flavor components, (lemon bitters and lemon juice.. for example,) I like trying aromas that directly compliment the drink's components. Here's a great author for flavor pairing guidance, and here are some interesting fall pairings to experement with:

Gin and Star Anise
Bourbon and Peach
Pear and Freshly cracked Black Pepper
Rosemary and Blood Orange
Green Apple and Clove
Molasses and Roasted Pumpkin
Rose and Pomegranate
Highland Scotch and Meyer Lemon

I want to make one snarky note about the use of aromatics before giving some examples. In any craft, there often comes a point when a project's form completely defies its function. This happens in drink-making when we get carried away with a crazy flaming garnish or method of consumption. (I don't want to drink a cocktail that seems like it was designed by Yoko Ono. I'm not climbing a ladder or drinking through an eleven foot burdock root, for example.) It's important to consider this with aromatics; make it simple and ergonomic and contextual for drinking and it will work. I'm reminded of having a "Chanel no. 5" champagne cocktail invented by the very talented, but lost me on this one, Tony Conigliaro. Although the drink is extremely interesting and the level of craft involved in its creation is impressive to say the least, do I want to drink Chanel no. 5? I don't even like smelling it, let alone smelling it and drinking it. Ew.

The drinks pictured here are photographed with garnishes that are specifically designed to surprise the nose when approaching the drink. We refer to this moment of approach frequently when designing new cocktails because it's key in the first impression of their flavors. My Herbal Idaho (left) is garnished with freshly cut basil leaves wrapped in orange peel. Roll up the basil, slice it diagonally, and arrange it so that the cut portions of the leaves are facing up. Wrap and skewer as pictured.

The Cruiser (above) is a simple meyer lemon fizz topped with Peychaud's bitters and a fresh rosemary ring. This is another simple and effective use of fresh herbs and bitters for aroma. You can even break a few of the rosemary needles to release more fragrance.

Another drink on our menu is the Pepperbox Cocktail (right) which is an applejack-based cocktail with a thin slice of apple floating on top of the egg foam. Freshly cracked black pepper corns lay on top of the apple slice. The garnish is the only spicey flavor, though people often ask if there's actually pepper in the drink because the smell of freshly cracked pepper is so intense when you're that close to it.

If you're serving drinks at a party or bar, try something as simple as putting the drink in front of your friend/patron/potential paramour, and zesting a lemon or orange on top of the glass right in front of them. Of course, avoid zesting in their eyes since it will not improve the drink or your reputation at all... you will be surprised by how many people will act as though they've never had a Cosmopolitan before when they take their first sip and smell all of that fresh lemon oil. Another trick I've heard of, though I've never tried, is to scent your swizzle sticks with essential oils or by steeping them in hydrosols. There are many ways to make drinks more interesting. While we work in a culture that is obsessed with molecular this-and-that, flavored vodka, and energy drinks, we've forgotten one thing every person has... a nose! My philosophy is to use what I have first, then try and change the craft to incorporate the use of agar agar or get speedy from taurine while slowing on GABA inhibitors.

Psychosis on the Rocks

2007-09-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have a bar staff of about five people, and they're the most flexible and versatile bartenders I know. The reason is that while many bar bloggers work in their home kitchens and subject their spouses and adolescent children to their cocktail revelations, I have an entire city upon which to subject them. And I do, gleefully, with the help of the bartenders.

Although Red Feather has been obsessed with ice for several years, my most recent departure from reality has involved the systemization of freezing, storing, and using about 6 different kinds of ice (stay with me here...)

Because I'm completely psychotic, I feel that every single type of ice we use is perfect for its application, and none are expendable.

In the old days (last year,) we would buy huge blocks of mineral ice and crack it with a hammer and chisel. This, not surprisingly, was around the time the entire bar staff turned (save for the golden boy, Mark Allen.) Over the last several months, and with the help of my friend/person whom I stalk, Sasha Pertraske, I have discovered better ways of producing and keeping all of this crazy ice. Modified silicon ice trays, this little tool, and the 50 cubic feet of freezer space behind my bar have made the following possible:

Big Ice is cracked from small blocks to fit our shakers and is used to chill shaken drinks without turning them to slush or diluting them too much. Big ice is not for every drink, and is not for every spirit. Cocktails with eggs in them and classic juiceless whiskey drinks, (if you must shake them,) benefit most from the use of big ice.

Cubed Ice differs from machined ice in that, although it is small, it is not hollow. We use this cubed ice for drinks served in shorter, old fashioned style glasses.

Tall Ice is used, well, for tall glasses. We freeze these to fit the glass so that the ice touches the bottom of the glass, and rises above the surface of the drink. This helps to reduce dilution and keep the drink colder and full-flavored longer. It also quiets the little voices in my head...

While I admit to being completely obsessive over this matter, I am not alone. There are a couple of ice machine manufacturers making ice that is solid and dilution-conscious. Kold-draft, for example, was out of business until about last year, when they started producing cocktail-grade ice making systems again.

Although the choice of ice is often determined by the reaction of the drink's components to chilling, it is often a stylistic choice. For example, the Caipirinha can be served in a tall glass with tall ice, or in a short glass with cubes. The choice is completely stylistic in this case, and I would probably choose the short glass because it just seems more fitting for the drink. I should also point out that machined ice is completely acceptable for many applications. We still make about 11,000 mojitos every night at Red Feather, and all that lime juice tastes great shaken up with slushy, hollow ice. The same is true for a standard highball cocktail... a rum & coke with tall ice is just... silly.

Fever of the Mad

2007-09-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

I visited New Orleans in July for the 5th Annual Tales of the Cocktail conference and spent most of my four days there drunk or getting drunk. Luckily for you, this is not the kind of blog where we chronicle a bunch of stuff that happened and what was said, since it's a bit of a blur. One evening of late night shots containing Lucid Absinthe and white peach nectar is worth mentioning, however, since by that drunken inspiration was born the Fever of the Mad...

The Fever of the Mad is a drink that reminds me about the basic point in mixing quality drinks: Put two flavors together that help each other make sense. White peach and anise are great examples. And although the drink is mine, I wish I'd though of the pairing on my own. Credit in this case goes to that hot piece of a bartender from Milk & Honey (the best bar in the world,) who was mixing drinks in a suite at the Hotel Monteleone for all of us drunken conference goers at 5 in the morning.

It's easy to forget this basic principle of quality bar cheffery when surrounded by Coca-Cola Caviar and Gin & Tonic Jelly Cubes. Don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place and an application for Cognac Foam... but don't we have so many ingredients that we haven't used correctly yet? The Fever of the Mad is simple. Anise on the front, peach on the back, soft, almost fuzzy texture... I'm going to post about some fun Molecular Barstronomy in a future piece, but for now, I'm going to focus on learning how to pair flavors sans calcium chloride or xanthan.

Fever of the Mad

1/4 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1/3 oz. Herbsaint or Absinthe
2 oz. quality London Dry Gin
1 oz. scoop of Peach Sorbet*
3 dashes of Fee Brother's Peach Bitters (not pictured.. I forgot)

Shake until sorbet dissolves into cocktail, serve up.

*At Red Feather bar, we use sorbet like a lot of places use flavor syrups. While Monin and a few others do a nice job with flavor syrups, (and while you can make them yourself quite simply with some sugar, citric acid, fresh fruit, and boiling water,) sorbets usually contain less sugar, more residual real fruit, and more fresh flavor. They're also cold and assist in adding texture to cocktails. If you have a full-time bar manager, it's worth it to add this prep chore to his list. It's not hard or expensive, and it's totally worth it.

South American Vehicles of Drunkenness, Part 1

2007-09-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

I write today as a lover of both South America and booze. Among my favorite South American boozes is pisco, a woody brandy made from the Muscat or Quebranta grapes Peru and Chile. I've probably consumed 20 pisco sours in the previous week, so I'll provide my perfected recipe after subjecting you to a shotgun history of this bebida.

Pisco is the enchanted spirit child of the people of Peru, and is actually the product of ancient wine snobbery; the discarded grapes not considered export-worthy for the production of wine were harvested by the field workers and fermented to make pisco. The fever for pisco spread as settlers and other travelers came and went through the growing region, and took pisco with them to drink on their respective joureys. When trade with Spain ceased in the mid-1600s, wine production ceased as well and only a few small pisco producers remained. The Pisco Sour was born abroad and became popular among traveling Americans and Europeans and helped revive the production of pisco.

Although both the Peruvians and the Chileans claim to hold the origin of pisco in their history, its name comes from the Quechua word pisqu, which translates in English as either little bird, or the name of a spiritual clay urn used by the Quechuan people, (there is much dispute over just about everything relating to pisco.) The Quechuan people resided in what is modern-day Ecuador/North Peru; not as far south as Chile although at the time the lands of present-day Chile and Peru were part of the same viceroyalty under the control of Spain. The Pisco growing region is in Peru today, but when it was first produced, neither Peru nor Chile even existed... and so in my book, geography wins and the spirit is referred to as Peruvian today.

Here's my recipe:
2 oz. Pisco
3/4 oz. lemon or key lime
1/4 oz. simple syrup
1 splash of fresh, pulp-free orange juice
1 egg white
Shake until you feel substantial pain in your arm. Strain up. Add a dash of angostura bitters or, if you can get it, Amargo Bitters...

The orange juice is my addition and is merely of cosmetic assistance to the drink; orange juice froths up beautifully when shaken with egg white. I think it's a reasonable modification, though there's no OJ in a traditional Pisco Sour. I put orange juice in every sour I make as I think lemon juice sweetened with sugar alone is still too jarring a combination. Orange juice is somewhere between sweet and tart, and provides a mellower solution to the sourness of lemon.

Anyone else forgotten this drink?

2007-09-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

If the Silver Fizz and the Tom Collins were bottles of champagne, the Silver Fizz would be enjoyed like Larmandier-Bernier over 90 pages of Thoreau, and the Tom Collins would be guzzled by starfucking bromides over 90 expressions of intoxicated barfly non-sequitur. (That was the single most snobby sentence I've ever written.)

The Silver Fizz is everything I love in a sour. Tart, sweet, rich, simple to prepare, and available to the masses. Fizz drinks are probably the result of the early-1900s induction of soda water into the classic sours of the late-1800s. Although this drink's daddy, the Gin Fizz, is often thought to be the same thing as a Tom Collins, it's not. The Tom Collins was originally made with Old Tom Gin, which was sweetened itself, and changes the drink entirely. In the 50s and 60s, beverage producers started marketing Collins Mix, and the drink was made with the increasingly popular London Dry style of gin... When a drink gets a mixer named after it, it's over in my book.

Many fizz cocktails of the early soda water craze were shaken and served up, but I like mine over a glassful of cracked ice. Here's how I made the one pictured above, currently menued at Red Feather:

Silver Gin Fizz
2 oz. Tanqueray
1 oz. Fresh lemon juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
1 Egg white
Shake until your shoulder joints lock in protest. Strain over new ice. Top with soda.

Sort of moving around, I recently read an article about a drink called the Heirloom Tomato Mojito. In the begining, I was optimistic. It's late summer, I thought, heirlooms are here and delicious... I'm floating in clouds of optimism over this cocktail.

Reading through the recipe was sort of like falling back toward the Earth, head-first. I crash down at the word tequila, and settle into the dirt at basil. Shaking off the fall, I remember that Mojitos are best, (and actual,) with rum and mint, and that sometimes we screw with drinks a little too much. I love aged balsamic vinegar, but not on top of my mojito. The Silver Fizz is another reminder along these lines. This drink is a great model and should replace any contemporary sour or fizz on any menu at least once or twice a season... because it's the best how it is.

The inspiration is simple: Find something forgotten and try it. If it sucks, we know why it was forgotten. If it's great, bring it back to life!

Golden Service

2007-09-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

Having breakfast at Goldy's on Capital Boulevard last Saturday reminded me of why people wait in line, hung over, drinking coffee out of a paper cup for an hour or more before getting a table. I swear that the nicest people in this city work at Goldy's. I sit down, have a nice breakfast, and leave feeling satisfied and inspired to be a little more sunshiney and caffeinated. Anne, the best server in Boise, tells us as we're leaving that she's really glad we came in. And I believe her.

I am reminded of an often-forgotten tenet of the service business... service itself, that is. So many times I've chatted with a server or bartender that relays to me a horrifying story of a time when they told off some customer because they snapped their fingers or ordered their steak well done. I find this so grossly uninspiring that I often ask, "well, you're in service to them, aren't you?" What ever happened to sitting around after work and talking shit about people who act like jerks? We just return the favor instantly now?

It's no surprise that most servers hate me for my position on unconditional accomodation. My theory is that if a guest in your place swears at you, hits you, or tries to steal something, you take a firm and calm tone and ask them to leave. The only time you should ever be less that prozac is if you're telling someone to leave. If they're going to stay, you're going to be polite. Period. No defensive tone. No standing up for your human right to not be referred to as miss. No sense of entitlement over the kind of tip you think you deserve. You are a polite robot with a sharp personality, not a freedom fighter or some sort of foody educat. Servers like Anne at Goldy's make me understand exactly how innate the act of service really is.

Since I'd consumed about a quart of Sazeracs the night before, I only had orange juice on this particular morning, and it was great. The extend of my inspiration from Goldy's had little to do with drinking, and more to do with a sappy sort of adage that's hardly ever easy to pull off in the morning... service with a smile.

Let's talk mixers.

2007-09-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

Drinkers are becoming more and more aware of what goes into their bodies, (and sometimes comes right back out,) during a night of boozing. At least I hope so.

As a bartender, I always found it strange that people would obsess over the brand of gin in their Gin & Tonic, but never ask a question about the damn tonic. I believe culinary movements geared toward natural, local, sourcable, and organic ingredients are spreading from the philosophical discussions between chefs and restaurateurs to the every-day diner... and maybe the drinker, too? I personally do not want to drink a glass of tonic sweetened with high fructose corn syrup that's going to poison my body more than the liquor itself. Give me the damn liquor poisoning!

The extremely high consumer demand for products that contain hydrogenated corn oils and high fructose corn syrup is also part of our fuel crisis; farming and transporting enough corn to make oils and syrups so that we can all die a little more quickly, either by breathing bad air or loosing our ability to breathe all together because we're so damn fat.

Getting back to the original point... how long will it take for bar programs to realize that quality non-alcoholic is just as important as quality spirits? Not just for ethical and moral reasons, but from the standpoint of flavor too. Every component of the cocktail is of equal importance, right? I'd rather pay another buck to get a quality tonic from Fever Tree (great stuff and all-natural... but not close. Quinine content this high must come from the UK,) or a natural Boylan's cola. Next time you sit down to have a drink, ask the bartender how he feels about mixers. I'm curious to know if anyone else cares...

Absinthe for reals.

2007-09-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

Writing about the Sazerac at Bardenay inspired me to share some interesting information about absinthe... the mother of all anisettes. I recently heard about a company called Veridian Spirits out of New York that is legally producing real wormwood absinthe called Lucid. Legally? Yes.

Althought absinthe is most popular for its late-19th century fame in France, its origin is Switzerland. The name comes from the scientific designation of the wormwood plant, artemisia absinthium, which contains thujone... the chemical that gives us that funny feeling and consequently made the stuff illegal all over the world by about 1915. There were also a series of murders around the height of the drink's popularity in Switzerland, and the government attributed the crimes to the psychotic effects of absinthe and started a mass scare/obsession with la fee verte... the green fairy. The Temperance Movement in the US eliminated the possibility of bringing the absinthe back to us until 2007, when the regulations concerning the margin for error in the detection of thujone allowed Veridian Spirits to push absinthe production through the FDA, and make a way for the rest of us to get silly on that funny green stuff...

I am tracking down a case of this stuff because I want to make Sazeracs the way Thomas Handy made them in 1870 New Orleans. One day, it would be amazing to scare up vintage bottles of every Sazerac component and have a small party and drink, like... old school Sazeracs. We could even try and find some Sazerac de Forge Cognac...